Overflow crowd marks 40th anniversary of I-Hotel evictions

Emil De Guzman, who was president of the International Hotel Tenants Association at the time of the evictions, makes a fist in a show of solidarity during the “Original Defenders” panel.

Emil De Guzman, who was president of the International Hotel Tenants Association at the time of the evictions, makes a fist in a show of solidarity during the “Original Defenders” panel.

Photo: Santiago Mejia / Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

Image 2 of 4

Pam Tau-Lee attends the Original Defenders panel at the I-Hotel Manilatown Center to mark the 40th anniversary of mass evictions.

Pam Tau-Lee attends the Original Defenders panel at the I-Hotel Manilatown Center to mark the 40th anniversary of mass evictions.

Photo: Santiago Mejia / Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

Image 3 of 4

The I-Hotel Manilatown Center is packed with an overflow crowd recalling the 1977 mass evictions.

The I-Hotel Manilatown Center is packed with an overflow crowd recalling the 1977 mass evictions.

Photo: Santiago Mejia / Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

Image 4 of 4

Ka linga for nia Laga mas ter weaver Jenny Bawer Young (center) and community leaders un veil a celeb ratory tapes try at the site of the old Inter na tional Hotel.

Ka linga for nia Laga mas ter weaver Jenny Bawer Young (center) and community leaders un veil a celeb ratory tapes try at the site of the old Inter na tional Hotel.

Photo: Santiago Mejia / Santiago Mejia / The Chronicle

Overflow crowd marks 40th anniversary of I-Hotel evictions

1 / 4

Back to Gallery

A sizable crowd spilled from the entrance of the International Hotel Manilatown Center on Friday to mark the 40th anniversary of the night in 1977 when residents of the former International Hotel on Kearny Street, many of them elderly Filipino farmworkers and servicemen, were evicted so the hotel could be razed to make way for development in what was then the city’s Manilatown.

“The whole world is watching!” the crowd at the modern-day Manilatown Center shouted together, led by Pam Tau-Lee, who remembered the chant that rang around the exact same block on that notorious night, which the Filipino community considers one of the most shameful in San Francisco’s history.

On Aug. 4, 1977, thousands of protesters and activists inside and outside the I-Hotel faced 300 riot-geared law enforcement personnel who raided the low-income, single-room-occupancy building to evict 50 or so elderly Filipino and Chinese residents. The clash was the culmination of a nearly decadelong battle between the building’s corporate owner and a large grassroots movement determined to defend the senior residents and the building, which effectively stood as the last remnant of San Francisco’s former Filipino neighborhood.

The violent outcome quickly became a national symbol for low-income housing and corporate-backed gentrification.

“I was beaten upstairs on the second floor, dragged down the stairs, and dragged down to Washington Street,” said Emil De Guzman, who was one of the few young residents at the time and the president of the I-Hotel Tenants Association. “Obviously, I was pretty beat up, but I wasn’t the only one. There were many people that night.”

A panel of “Original Defenders,” including De Guzman and Tau-Lee, recounted harrowing details of the night — the force with which officers swung batons, how the horse patrolmen charged the human barricade surrounding the SRO, squeezing the crowds against the hotel to near suffocation.

“Strength. That’s what I remember,” said Estella Habal, who was inside the building on the night of the eviction.

The panel discussion was followed by a screening of the documentary “The Fall of the I-Hotel” and a separate housing rights panel. The anniversary event ended with a candlelight vigil around the Manilatown Center, located in the first floor of the new International Hotel, another low-income, senior housing development that was ultimately built on the site of the old demolished hotel.

“That’s a lot of folks!” De Guzman said, after asking audience members who were involved in the movement 40 years ago to stand. “Welcome home,” De Guzman said as the crowd erupted in cheers and applause.